The US labor movement is in deep trouble.

For the past forty years (and, some would argue, even longer), the capitalist class and its political representatives in both parties have waged a vicious offensive against working people. Employers across the economy have demanded tremendous concessions from their unionized employees — wage, benefit, and work-rule givebacks; the introduction of multi-tiered workforces; the outsourcing of work to nonunion subsidiaries and companies — all while fighting union organizing drives at their new facilities.

In the political arena, capital’s loyal servants have blocked any substantial pro-worker reform of labor law and gutted the social welfare state, which provided minimal protections against the worst aspects of labor-market competition.